Welcome to another installment of

“The Other Side of Wine”

our semi-regular feature covering

the unusual, the unbelievable and the unthinkable

from the world of wine

or as Arsenio Hall used to say,

“things that make you go….hmmmm.”

You order a $290 bottle of wine. 

They bring you a $5,000 bottle of wine. 

What do you do?

If you’re like a group of businessmen

who recently faced this scenario in England,

you drink it…then you ask for a second bottle. 

 This happened. 

A restaurant in Manchester accidentally served a $5,000 bottle of ’01 Le Pin

when the men actually ordered a $290 bottle of Chateau Pichon

(see the pic above). 

The server did not get fired. 

The restaurant owner’s shrugged it off

with the British equivalent of “s**t happens”. 

The businessmen did order a second bottle but by this time,

the restaurant had caught on and did not make the same mistake twice.

This just in from the Vatican.

The Pope says a party isn’t a party without wine.

The Pope was pontificating as Popes are wont to do. 

Speaking about celebrations, specifically weddings, the Pope said, 

 “Water is needed to live

but wine expresses the abundance of the banquet.” 

If a wedding feast lacks wine, the Pope said,

 “…the newlyweds are embarrassed by this. 

Imagine finishing a wedding feast drinking tea. 

It would be an embarrassment.” 

Yay, Pope!  We’ll all raise a glass of Brunello to that.

It is Pat The Wine Guy policy to avoid politics. 

So we’re just the messenger on this one.

But it wouldn’t be “The Other Side of Wine”

if we failed to pass along this story.

 An Australian winemaker, LAS Vino, certainly made a statement,

not with their 2017 chardonnay,

but with the chardonnay’s provocative name. 

Since discretion is the better part of valor,

and we do strive to run a PG-rated website,

rather than post a pic of the wine,

here’s a link. 

(Be patient.  It takes a moment to load.) 

You’ve never seen a label quite like it.

https://bit.ly/2XXwsF8

 The wording on the label suggests that contributions

from an ethnically-diverse work force and cooperation

from members of a global community lead to a successful result

which, in this case, is wine production and distribution. 

Clearly, LAS Vino believes the current occupant of the White House

has a different opinion on those issues. 

LAS Vino asked their followers to “buy this before we get sued”. 

Buy it they did.  The chardonnay sold out quickly. 

I’m guessing the empties did not make it into the recycling bin

but were kept as souvenirs.

That’s it for this edition of 

“The Other Side of Wine” 

Don’t forget…whenever you’re shopping for wine,

you can access our user-friendly website

for all of the latest “Pat’s Picks”.

Cheers!